‘It does not matter if they are children,’ said Aharon Haliva in recorded comments calling the death toll ‘necessary’
The Israeli general who headed military intelligence on 7 October 2023 has said 50 Palestinians must die for every person killed that day and “it does not matter now if they are children”, in recordings broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12 TV station.
Aharon Haliva said the toll in Gaza, which he put at more than 50,000 dead, was “necessary” as a “message to future generations” of Palestinians.
“They need a Nakba every now and then to feel the price,” he added, referring to the mass expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands after the creation of Israel in 1948. Nakba means catastrophe in Arabic.
Much of Israel’s leadership and media has used genocidal rhetoric about Palestinians since Hamas’s 7 October attacks, including describing them as “human animals”, saying there are “no innocents” in Gaza and calling for Gaza’s total destruction and its ethnic cleansing.
